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Topic: Nipiing swarming in the bud... (Read 2133 times)

I've got 2 TBH's this year installed from packages. They were originally placed into the same hive body on either end. Last week I moved one colony to a new hive body. As I expected there was alot of drift back to the old hive body. I was not able to get a look inside until today due to weather when I was available to look in.

There were lots of bees hanging around outdoors all week so I was a bit nervous and rightly so. Not only were there bees all over the the outside but literally covering the sides, bottom of the hive. The girls had 18 bars all but 3 of them are fully drawn. I found about 10 acorn cells and at least 4 queen cells with larvae in them. Mostly on 1 frame.

The queen is laying great in fact she doesn't appear to have slimmed down to swarm at all. I took 3 frames out of the colony and placed them over on the other side were I am still having bees return from the other colony. One of those frames I moved has 3 maybe 4 queen cells nearly ready to be capped. I removed 1 queen cell from another frame and don't think there was larvae in any of the other acorns. I also added 3 more empty bars into the brood nest, between 1-2 frames of brood. Though to be frank there is only 1 maybe 2 combs in there that seem to be only honey every other comb has at least 50% brood on it.2 more bars, one on each end of the colony.

This is the frame with the 3 maybe 4 queen cells.

I know once the bees get it into their mind to swarm its pretty much a done deal but I am really hoping to at least delay the inevitable as I will be out of town when the queen cells should be 'hatching'. Is it reasonable to assume that the queen will likely go ahead and lay in the other acorn cells?

I need to quickly.... build some Nucs this week. I'm just afraid the main colony will swarm while I am out of town.

Here is a pic of the queen. Doesn't look like she'd be likely to fly anytime soon to me but what do I know?

I've got 2 TBH's this year installed from packages. They were originally placed into the same hive body on either end. Last week I moved one colony to a new hive body. As I expected there was alot of drift back to the old hive body. I was not able to get a look inside until today due to weather when I was available to look in.

There were lots of bees hanging around outdoors all week so I was a bit nervous and rightly so. Not only were there bees all over the the outside but literally covering the sides, bottom of the hive. The girls had 18 bars all but 3 of them are fully drawn. I found about 10 acorn cells and at least 4 queen cells with larvae in them. . Mostly on 1 frame.The queen is laying great in fact she doesn't appear to have slimmed down to swarm at all. I took 3 frames out of the colony and placed them over on the other side were I am still having bees return from the other colony. One of those frames I moved has 3 maybe 4 queen cells nearly ready to be capped. I removed 1 queen cell from another frame and don't think there was larvae in any of the other acorns. I also added 3 more empty bars into the brood nest, between 1-2 frames of brood. Though to be frank there is only 1 maybe 2 combs in there that seem to be only honey every other comb has at least 50% brood on it.2 more bars, one on each end of the colony.

This is the frame with the 3 maybe 4 queen cells.

I know once the bees get it into their mind to swarm its pretty much a done deal but I am really hoping to at least delay the inevitable as I will be out of town when the queen cells should be 'hatching'. Is it reasonable to assume that the queen will likely go ahead and lay in the other acorn cells?

I need to quickly.... build some Nucs this week. I'm just afraid the main colony will swarm while I am out of town.

Here is a pic of the queen. Doesn't look like she'd be likely to fly anytime soon to me but what do I know?

X:X X:X X:X X:X X:X X:X X:X X:X

Looks like Queen cups to me I do not see any eggs or laves in the caps so NOT a Queen cell until this happens and it looks like you did seen some.

But what do I know ??? After keeping bees for 50 years :roll:

BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)

« Last Edit: May 05, 2013, 08:00:36 PM by Jim 134 »

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won't hurt to take the old queen out and make a nuc with her. be sure to leave eggs in the old hive. don't mess with the queen cells/cups.

you get a new nuc and maybe save the hive from swarming. be sure to take to old queen out, not the queen cells. by taking her out, the hive (hopefully) thinks it has swarmed.

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.....The greatest changes occur in their country without their cooperation. They are not even aware of precisely what has taken place. They suspect it; they have heard of the event by chance. More than that, they are unconcerned with the fortunes of their village, the safety of their streets, the fate of their church and its vestry. They think that such things have nothing to do with them, that they belong to a powerful stranger called “the government.” They enjoy these goods as tenants, without a sense of ownership, and never give a thought to how they might be improved.....

Looks like Queen cups to me I do not see any eggs or laves in the caps so NOT a Queen cell until this happens and it looks like you did seen some.

But what do I know ??? After keeping bees for 50 years :roll:

BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)

There is larvae in the 2 cups side by side in the middle. I also pulled one apart that was capped. The other 2 cups in that frame I didn't get a good look into. I normally wouldn't mess with the queen cells but I didn't want her to emerge before I had a nuc ready. (Which will be ready tomorrow or tuesday). I'll put the other frames back when I 'nuc' the queen.

Yeah I did that, though I did it backwards not thinking. I pulled the frame with the cells out into its own section and left the queen. I got 90% of a nuc built last night and will finish it tomorrow then move the queen into that and put those cells back in the main hive. The real question I've got is how many splits to make. If I decide to only do 1, I should still leave all the Q-cells and let them fight it out right?

.....The greatest changes occur in their country without their cooperation. They are not even aware of precisely what has taken place. They suspect it; they have heard of the event by chance. More than that, they are unconcerned with the fortunes of their village, the safety of their streets, the fate of their church and its vestry. They think that such things have nothing to do with them, that they belong to a powerful stranger called “the government.” They enjoy these goods as tenants, without a sense of ownership, and never give a thought to how they might be improved.....